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this really doesn't have a lot importance, its more just a curiosity. how long does it take you to churn out an acoustic or electric guitar (or any instrument for that matter). i know there are a countless variables that can effect how long it takes, but I'm just speaking in generalities. especially the guys who build professionally or almost professionally since you're more likely to work straight through on one. anyway like i said I'm just curious.

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~shad peters

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The last time I stopped in Brune's shop, he showed me a fabulous flamenco that he built and finished in 7 days!

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

I guess the only way to truly measure is in total work hours. For the pros and full-time guys, that's pretty easy to do. For us "nights and weekends" amateurs, that's a lot more tricky to figure out.

For me there's a pretty interesting curve that relates to the length of time on one axis, and the number of guitars that preceded it on the other.....

In other words, my first guitar took me five months of nights and weekends, and most of that time was building jigs and redoing errors.

Now (5 guitars) I'm a lot faster, but am still improving jigs and processes.

I think that at about guitar number 10, once I'm closer to figuring out what works for me in terms of repeatable processes, I'll be able to crank one out in, say.....2 1/2 months? If I spend 15 hours a week, that's 150 hours. Sounds about right for an amateur with a lot of manual processes.

Hang a clipboard by the light switch and log your time when the lights go on and off in your shop. Concentrate on building only one guitar at a time and you will get an idea how many hours you truly have invested in shop time. I did this early on but putting a rounded off number on your time is all over the place. Every guitar is different, cut-aways add time as do inlay work, sun bursts , slot heads, custom shapes, purfling schemes, sound port details, special finishes, etc... I can crank em out pretty darn quick but my work processes are probably unlike any other builder so my numbers are meaningless.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Are you counting just construction time or all the re-work time to fix my mistakes??

Well Peter

A coulpe of things...very few of us on this site "churn out or knock off" instruments.

We build them.

Some builders can be very fast.

Is true that there are factrories in the far east that "churn' them out by the hundreds every day in every size shape or colour you can imagine.

Me, I am usualy building up to a halve dozen various instruments at any one time and do not keep track of time. I have found that puting a clock in the workshop lowers quality. Futhermore the only time I know the time is when me at the computer and thats because windows come with a built in clock...even the one on the stove don't work, and frankly me don't care.

However I did take up the 6 day Guitar Challenge from Jesse Burge of Burge Guitar Shop in
Hattiesburg, MS and produced a carved archtop, wishbone design, fully banded in I think it was 34 hours for what its worth. And no...I do not have or use dedicated jigs.

My suggestion , unless you under the gun...thow your watch way, close the door to your shop and have a nice long talk with the wood. Both you and your build will be better off.


Blessings
the
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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I doen to 60 hours total construction and finish work figured by the hour. Keeping in mind I do my building in the evenings after my day job and Saterdays and some times Sundays it takes me typically 3 months couting cure time and set-up but weather can affect me pretty bad because I am in a very dry climate and when 80-100% rh weather rolls in I don't own a dehumidifier. this year my problem was not how long it took to do the build it was getting the time to build due to my day job

Working around my day job and family needs, I churn one out in precisely 2 to 6 months.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Last winter I built number 4 and 5 guitars in the time it took to build my 1st which was a kit. I did a rough log of number 4 and when completed there were roughly 120 hours into it, and I think that a lot of that was wasted thinking about what I was about to do. Every one I have built has been different thus needing outside molds and bending forms. I feel my efficiency is increasing and the mistakes are much fewer and easier to correct. At this spreed of building I am glad I don't do this for a living, I would be poor.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I don't "churn" anything out, but since my bread and butter is mandolins, it takes about 250 hours to churn out an F5. I would guess my guitars are taking 120-150 hours working part time.

I know of two VERY respected acoustic builders (pros, of course) who are right around the 30 hour mark, and one I know is at 35 or less on an 'everything' model. A combination of really solid coordination and good jigs can change everything.

I'll let you know when I start building again soon; I hope to have a reasonably low time given the Fadal and it's wonderful jig-making ability. I think the first one'll be a bit slow, though, since I want to make one of those Taylor-style automatic side benders first (which may or may not be more exciting than the guitar )

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I think before you post, you gotta decide how you count "Building time"

Many folks count the total time between when they start and when they finish at so many hours per day...

The truth is that the actual time is far less than that -- you gotta eat, smoke, go to the bathroom, wait for paint and glue to dry, etc.

Consider How Long it really takes to do the bindings... Most folks would say it takes a couple days.... so they will list some absurd number like 72 hours (3-days).. or even 24 hours (3 days of 8-hr days)

But...
Setup the router 10 min
Cut the slots 5 min
Glue in 1st binding strip 20 min.
Glue in 2nd binding strip 20 min.
Wait for glue to dry 1 day...

So.. The reality is, the bindings maybe take a total of 2-hours... probably less.... but the time in days is Glue 1st pair... wait a day for glue to dry... Glue in 2nd pair... wait a day for glue to dry... etc.... 3 or 4 days go by...

Much of the building goes like this.. there is a whole lot of time spent in thinking about a job and waiting for glue to dry... but not much hands on working time.

This is why folks can build 3 guitars at the same time and it still takes the same amount of time to make those 3 as to do 1...

Thanks

John

Do you count actual building time only?

What about -
- the time it takes you to separate your fingers that you super glued together?
- emergency room visits for stitches and stitch removal?
- if you have to make another neck, do you subtract the time for the first two?
- time on the OLF?
- etc.....

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

well i suppose all that has to be taken into consideration, but like i said im not really counting on exact numbers or anything, i was just kinda curious how other builders do compared to eachother and myself. it just seemed like an interesting topic of conversation.

for me i think the question would be do you count the time driving back and forth between the shop and the hardware store. that turns an 8 hour day into a 4 hour day pretty quick

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

You'll save the second part of that time if you use acetone to separate them instead of a chisel

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I made this electric mando in 4 days

part time

after work etc.

realisticly, there's about 6 hours work in this.



I built my latest bass in a month part time

more work here, maybe 25 hours?



acoustics take a LOT longer!!

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I 'budget' about 150 hours of build time for an acoustic with a fair amount of inlay/detailing. Getting shorter all the time; I'll try to log the hours on the next build. Electrics are faster, usually, although it kinda depends on how off the wall I'm being in terms of design and the like.

Any where from 1 month to 3.5 years

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My first mando was between 40-50 hrs , of work and beer drinking

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I remember reading in "the History Of Ovation" that they had 18 man hours hands on building time in the 70's. According to the book they were considering buying Martin at the time, but one thing that puzzled them was that they (Martin) only used 14 hours, despite their "primitive building techniques with clothes pins and plywood templates".

I build and repair guitars and mandolins full time now, but I don't expect to make more than 10-15 guitars this year. I guess I should get my act together and speed up!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

If you have all the parts thicknessed and cut, and molds done, its just a matter of putting them together, after the first one or 2. I bent 2 more side sets as I rebent tweeked my current set. Took 2 days stretched over a week, but boom, 2 side sets done! Now I have 3 guitar side sets, those are ready to get kerflining and neck/healblocks,2 next back and front sets are in the humidity bags. That was fast. Still have to glue up and thin the sets, headblocks etc, but I know what to expect, but there are 2 of those, and Ive already made alot of mistakes on the first set that I wont make on these 2 sets. Should go quick.

I could sand the headblocks to match, when Im not doing anything else, making duplicates is easy because its already set up.

So the first guitar is a struggle, mistakes still at every move, but the next 2 should take (2-3, so 6-7 months) of given energy/time.

Now, if I just had 2 more molds, I can make those from $2.00 scrap plywood I saw at Home depo...

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
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you can build a guitar in a week.
however if you dont own a $1000 UV finishing set up, your looking a minimum of 2 weeks for the finish to dry enough to buff.

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